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告訴我他是誰
《告訴我他是誰》為約翰．齊佛生涯代表作《短篇小說自選集》的第二部。於一九七八年出版的《短篇小說自選集》，甫上市精裝本狂銷十二萬五千冊，成績斐然，廣受讚譽，隔年榮獲普立茲小說獎、美國國家書評獎，攀上文學創作顛峰。
如同第一部《離婚季節》，圍繞著現代人關係破裂、夢想破碎、生活破敗的主題，構成了本書二十則短篇的基調，書中人物不僅涵蓋市井小民，更觸及有頭有臉的上流階層……一群為追逐名利、財富費盡苦心，或是為眼前人際關係、婚姻生活苦惱的人物，永遠料想到不到，在生命接下來的轉角將遇到什麼……此外，齊佛曾於一九六五年旅居義大利，本書也收錄了一系列他以義大利為故事背景所創作的小說。
他上了他的女秘書，之後果斷開除她；她拿著槍跟著他上了火車。〈五點四十八分〉
他看見他妻子和一個男人走在一起，他大喊：「瑪麗亞，瑪麗亞──」但隨即他們倆便消失在人群裡。莫非是他看走了眼？〈告訴我他是誰〉
他的飛機失事，但他活下來了。他想告訴家人他剛從死裡逃過一劫，但一回到家，打鬧的小孩、烤焦的肉、心不在焉的妻子──沒有人在乎他曾經離死亡是那麼地近。他知道這個家裡出了點問題。〈鄉下丈夫〉
如同第一部《離婚季節》，圍繞著現代人關係破裂、夢想破碎、生活破敗的主題，構成了本書二十則短篇的基調，書中人物不僅涵蓋市井小民，更觸及有頭有臉的上流階層……一群為追逐名利、財富費盡苦心，或是為眼前人際關係、婚姻生活苦惱的人物，永遠料想到不到，在生命接下來的轉角將遇到什麼……此外，齊佛曾於一九六五年旅居義大利，本書也收錄了一系列他以義大利為故事背景所創作的小說。
他上了他的女秘書，之後果斷開除她；她拿著槍跟著他上了火車。〈五點四十八分〉
他看見他妻子和一個男人走在一起，他大喊：「瑪麗亞，瑪麗亞──」但隨即他們倆便消失在人群裡。莫非是他看走了眼？〈告訴我他是誰〉
他的飛機失事，但他活下來了。他想告訴家人他剛從死裡逃過一劫，但一回到家，打鬧的小孩、烤焦的肉、心不在焉的妻子──沒有人在乎他曾經離死亡是那麼地近。他知道這個家裡出了點問題。〈鄉下丈夫〉
- GenresShort Stories
336 pages, Paperback
First published April 16, 1958
5 people want to read
About the author
John Cheever
297 books1,070 followersJohn Cheever was an American novelist and short story writer, sometimes called "the Chekhov of the suburbs" or "the Ovid of Ossining." His fiction is mostly set in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, the suburbs of Westchester, New York, and old New England villages based on various South Shore towns around Quincy, Massachusetts, where he was born.
His main themes include the duality of human nature: sometimes dramatized as the disparity between a character's decorous social persona and inner corruption, and sometimes as a conflict between two characters (often brothers) who embody the salient aspects of both--light and dark, flesh and spirit. Many of his works also express a nostalgia for a vanishing way of life, characterized by abiding cultural traditions and a profound sense of community, as opposed to the alienating nomadism of modern suburbia.
His main themes include the duality of human nature: sometimes dramatized as the disparity between a character's decorous social persona and inner corruption, and sometimes as a conflict between two characters (often brothers) who embody the salient aspects of both--light and dark, flesh and spirit. Many of his works also express a nostalgia for a vanishing way of life, characterized by abiding cultural traditions and a profound sense of community, as opposed to the alienating nomadism of modern suburbia.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
April 22, 2025
Will is a successful middle-aged businessman who has worked his way up from a childhood of poverty. He was over forty when he married a much younger woman, Maria, who he smothers with love. He sometimes treats her in a fatherly manner, but she's starting to behave in a more independent manner.
They attend a costume party where Maria wears a sexy costume and Will wears a heavy costume of a knight so he can hardly move. He hears rumors about a man and woman in the country club parking lot. Without any evidence, Will builds it up in his mind that Maria was the woman. As time goes on, will he be jealous again and suspect her of more indiscretions. He likes having a dependent wife who he can spoil with all the luxuries that his new money can buy. How much will Maria change from her younger self as she matures?
"Just Tell Me Who It Was" is story #31 in the collection "The Stories of John Cheever."
They attend a costume party where Maria wears a sexy costume and Will wears a heavy costume of a knight so he can hardly move. He hears rumors about a man and woman in the country club parking lot. Without any evidence, Will builds it up in his mind that Maria was the woman. As time goes on, will he be jealous again and suspect her of more indiscretions. He likes having a dependent wife who he can spoil with all the luxuries that his new money can buy. How much will Maria change from her younger self as she matures?
"Just Tell Me Who It Was" is story #31 in the collection "The Stories of John Cheever."
September 13, 2025
Just Tell Me Who It Was by John Cheever
A grand story, 10 out of 10
This is the kind of story where I meet with the hero on quite a few levels and in more than one aspect of his life.
Will Pym is married to a much younger woman, which is also my case, even if I was to blame for marital troubles.
In the case of Will, it is his much younger wife that starts causing some waves, even if I am not sure to the end
- Who it was?
- And indeed, if there ever was a he, to the extent of a full blown affair
So this is a happy case where I do not have to worry about any spoiler alert, since I did not get what happens.
Well, I should be worried that I did not fully grasp the meaning of events, but then there is a possibility that the infidelity was just a product of imagination.
It could well be a Proustian situation, where the lover, or in this case a husband is so worried that he is sure he is betrayed.
But then, it can be like in Un Amour de Swan, where the hero knocks at a door and the noise makes him sure Odette is making love to someone else…
- Only to find that he knocked at the wrong door
Having a much younger wife- as I write this I think any wife- can be a nerve racking situation, I vouch for it.
She can have many dogs, ocean fish, huge house and large garden, but she still complains that she does not travel much…
- How can you do that when you collect strays- the latest is just a few months old…
Maria is Will’s wife and she may not be having a “real, extensive” affair, but she does some things which are over the top.
In shady hill, which is I guess the prototype of a middle class suburbia; people know each other and gossip.
Some slippers and a girdle are found in a parking lot and that is purported to mean that an extramarital relationship is under way.
And not just that, but a scandalous behavior is associated and I tend to feel that discretion and few traces would be the norm in situations like this, and not what seems to be a more than careless attitude.
Nevertheless, I still cannot swear that Maria slept with the man suspected…it could all be in Will Pym’s head.
This reminded me of some of the psychology books I have read lately and the extraordinary advice contained within.
- Only one person can take you down and that is you
Imagining things is wrong, and there is a procedure called ABCD- whereby you dispute the automatic beliefs that are often wrong.
In a complex story, it is also true that Will only wants, like the title makes plain – to know who it was and move on-
- Just tell me who it was
That may work as a closure, but it often complicates matters, as we are not all able to experience PTG= Post Traumatic Growth
The story is magnificent in the wonderful details that appear everywhere- I just remembered the passage on lonely women.
There are some in Shady Hill and they are compared with the fishermen’s wives, with the husbands gone for weeks.
In just a few lines, an impressive, touching portrait is rendered, on the way they have adapted, their emotional profile and the occupations which keep them busy thinking about something other than their solitude.
Like all the Cheever tales, a stupefying work.
A grand story, 10 out of 10
This is the kind of story where I meet with the hero on quite a few levels and in more than one aspect of his life.
Will Pym is married to a much younger woman, which is also my case, even if I was to blame for marital troubles.
In the case of Will, it is his much younger wife that starts causing some waves, even if I am not sure to the end
- Who it was?
- And indeed, if there ever was a he, to the extent of a full blown affair
So this is a happy case where I do not have to worry about any spoiler alert, since I did not get what happens.
Well, I should be worried that I did not fully grasp the meaning of events, but then there is a possibility that the infidelity was just a product of imagination.
It could well be a Proustian situation, where the lover, or in this case a husband is so worried that he is sure he is betrayed.
But then, it can be like in Un Amour de Swan, where the hero knocks at a door and the noise makes him sure Odette is making love to someone else…
- Only to find that he knocked at the wrong door
Having a much younger wife- as I write this I think any wife- can be a nerve racking situation, I vouch for it.
She can have many dogs, ocean fish, huge house and large garden, but she still complains that she does not travel much…
- How can you do that when you collect strays- the latest is just a few months old…
Maria is Will’s wife and she may not be having a “real, extensive” affair, but she does some things which are over the top.
In shady hill, which is I guess the prototype of a middle class suburbia; people know each other and gossip.
Some slippers and a girdle are found in a parking lot and that is purported to mean that an extramarital relationship is under way.
And not just that, but a scandalous behavior is associated and I tend to feel that discretion and few traces would be the norm in situations like this, and not what seems to be a more than careless attitude.
Nevertheless, I still cannot swear that Maria slept with the man suspected…it could all be in Will Pym’s head.
This reminded me of some of the psychology books I have read lately and the extraordinary advice contained within.
- Only one person can take you down and that is you
Imagining things is wrong, and there is a procedure called ABCD- whereby you dispute the automatic beliefs that are often wrong.
In a complex story, it is also true that Will only wants, like the title makes plain – to know who it was and move on-
- Just tell me who it was
That may work as a closure, but it often complicates matters, as we are not all able to experience PTG= Post Traumatic Growth
The story is magnificent in the wonderful details that appear everywhere- I just remembered the passage on lonely women.
There are some in Shady Hill and they are compared with the fishermen’s wives, with the husbands gone for weeks.
In just a few lines, an impressive, touching portrait is rendered, on the way they have adapted, their emotional profile and the occupations which keep them busy thinking about something other than their solitude.
Like all the Cheever tales, a stupefying work.
October 16, 2021
John Cheever's "Just Tell Me Who It Was" is another Shady Hill story which is quite a sad one, though not completely depending on what the characters do after the story ends. The age old story of an older man marrying a much younger woman. Cheever's people are so real, yet they seem to have too many parties and lots of drinking.
Short story in short- Will worries about his young wife and wonders.
"He made a large annual contribution to the Baltimore settlement house that had set his feet upon the right path, and he had a few anecdotes to tell about working as a farmhand long, long ago, but his appearance and demeanor were those of a well-established member of the upper middle class, with hardly a trace—hardly a trace of the anxieties of a man who had been through a grueling struggle to put some money into the bank. It is true that beggars, old men in rags, thinly dressed men and women eating bad food in the penitential lights of a cafeteria, slums and squalid mill towns, the faces in rooming-house windows—even a hole in his daughter’s socks—could remind him of his youth and make him uneasy. He did not ever like to see the signs of poverty."
"When he finally did marry, he picked a woman much younger than he—a sweet-tempered girl with red hair and green eyes. She sometimes called him Daddy. Will was so proud of her and spoke so extravagantly of her beauty and her wit that when people first met her they were always disappointed. But Will had been poor and cold and alone, and when he came home at the end of the day to a lovely and loving woman, when he took off his hat and coat in the front hall, he would literally groan with joy. Every stick of furniture that Maria bought seemed to him to be hallowed by her taste and charm. A footstool or a set of pots would so delight him that he would cover her face and throat with kisses. She was extravagant, but he seemed to want a childish and capricious wife, and the implausible excuses that she made for having bought something needless and expensive aroused in him the deepest tenderness."
❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌spoiler alert❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌
Will Pym has made his way to the top, he had pulled himself out of poverty and risen despite his lack of love from his family. Will decides to marry at 40 and he chooses a young innocent girl, finding out that this might have been a choice that will cause him troubles later. Maria is not very bright but seems to be good. Will likes her the way she is and lets her do anything she wants, knowing she is innocent. He treats her like a little girl and when she wants to wear a dress that is too revealing at a community costume party, he sees her innocence will be trampled on but he finally gives in. Will is 50 now and they have three little girls, which he adores. At the dance Maria has many dancing partners and drives to the dance with another married man. Will keeps trying to keep track of his wife but is not too successful, finally he gives up and goes home. Maria arrives home looking in a bit of disarray. She has been unhappy, she had not liked the way the men were behaving, she had thoughts of men behaving differently in her dreams. It seems she has not been unfaithful except maybe in thought. When Will sees her he tells her he forgives her and this upsets her, she sleeps alone. The next day Maria does not want to go to a party but wants Will to enjoy himself and tell her what was said about last night. Will reluctantly goes and starts to hear gossip that might not have to do with his wife but he thinks everything has to do with her. Slippers and a woman's garter belt are found in the parking lot, Will starts to think of his wife's opportunities for having an affair and it boils up inside himself. He returns home and asks his wife if she had lost these items. He goes into her room and searches for slippers, his wife is amazed and he again sleeps alone. He finally thinks of the man who has been around his wife many times and when he waits for his train he sees Henry. After he hits this supposed lover, Will feels better like he can move forward. He will go home and be happy with his family. But will this start happening again because the age difference will bring out jealousies. I hope that Maria will be happy in her family life. I hope he lives a long time because Maria, being treated like a child will have a hard time if he dies. It seems their children might fair better in his attention in helping educate them.
"But Maria was cold and tired and hungry. They had not gone to bed until two, and it had been an effort for her to keep her eyes open while they walked in the woods. When they got home, she would have to fix the supper. Cold cuts or lamb chops, she wondered while she watched Will enclose their initials in the outline of a heart and pierce it with an arrow. “Oh, you’re so lovely!” she heard him murmur when he had finished. “You’re so young and beautiful!” He groaned; he took her in his arms and kissed her wildly. She went on worrying about the supper."
"Her sobbing got louder. He got up and went to the dressing table and put his arms around her. “I told you what would happen if you wore that costume, didn’t I? But it doesn’t matter any more. I’ll never ask you anything about it. I’ll forget the whole thing. But come to bed now and get some sleep.”
"It had always seemed generous of her not to insist on his going with her to meetings of the Civic Improvement Association, but how did he know whether she had gone off to discuss the fluorination of water or to meet a lover?"
"Will was determined to be cheerful this afternoon, but the figures of his children, walking ahead, saddened him, for they seemed like live symbols of his trouble. He had not actually thought of leaving Maria—he had not let the idea form—but he seemed to breathe the atmosphere of separation. When he passed the tree where he had carved their initials, he thought of the stupendous wickedness of the world."
"As you may or may not know, I’m in charge of the adult-education program at the high school this year. We’ve had a disappointing attendance, and we have a speaker coming on Thursday for whom I’m anxious to rustle up a sizable audience. Her name is Mary Bickwald, and she’s going to speak on marriage problems—extramarital affairs, that sort of thing. If you and Maria are free on Thursday, I think you’ll find it worth your time.” The Chesneys went on into the living room, and Will continued toward the bar."
"She was gone. Maria, crying, looked at him so wantonly that he nearly choked. Then she climbed the stairs in her gray silk dress and shut the door to their room. He followed her and found her lying on their bed in the dark. “Who was it, Mummy?” he asked. “Just tell me who it was and I’ll forget about it.” “It wasn’t anybody,” she said. “There wasn’t anybody.”
"It was Henry who had been with her on the train when she returned that rainy night at two. It was Henry who had whistled when she did her dance at the Women’s Club. It was Henry’s head and shoulders he had seen on Madison Avenue when he recognized Maria ahead of him. And now he remembered poor Helen Bulstrode’s haggard face at the Townsends’ party—the face of a woman who was married to a libertine."
"The amazing thing was how well Will felt when he boarded the train. Now his fruitful life with Maria would be resumed. They would walk on Sunday afternoons again, and play word games by the open fire again, and weed the roses again, and love one another under the sounds of the rain again, and hear the singing of the crows; and he would buy her a present that afternoon as a signal of love and forgiveness. He would buy her pearls or gold or sapphires—something expensive; emeralds maybe; something no young man could afford."
Short story in short- Will worries about his young wife and wonders.
"He made a large annual contribution to the Baltimore settlement house that had set his feet upon the right path, and he had a few anecdotes to tell about working as a farmhand long, long ago, but his appearance and demeanor were those of a well-established member of the upper middle class, with hardly a trace—hardly a trace of the anxieties of a man who had been through a grueling struggle to put some money into the bank. It is true that beggars, old men in rags, thinly dressed men and women eating bad food in the penitential lights of a cafeteria, slums and squalid mill towns, the faces in rooming-house windows—even a hole in his daughter’s socks—could remind him of his youth and make him uneasy. He did not ever like to see the signs of poverty."
"When he finally did marry, he picked a woman much younger than he—a sweet-tempered girl with red hair and green eyes. She sometimes called him Daddy. Will was so proud of her and spoke so extravagantly of her beauty and her wit that when people first met her they were always disappointed. But Will had been poor and cold and alone, and when he came home at the end of the day to a lovely and loving woman, when he took off his hat and coat in the front hall, he would literally groan with joy. Every stick of furniture that Maria bought seemed to him to be hallowed by her taste and charm. A footstool or a set of pots would so delight him that he would cover her face and throat with kisses. She was extravagant, but he seemed to want a childish and capricious wife, and the implausible excuses that she made for having bought something needless and expensive aroused in him the deepest tenderness."
❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌spoiler alert❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌
Will Pym has made his way to the top, he had pulled himself out of poverty and risen despite his lack of love from his family. Will decides to marry at 40 and he chooses a young innocent girl, finding out that this might have been a choice that will cause him troubles later. Maria is not very bright but seems to be good. Will likes her the way she is and lets her do anything she wants, knowing she is innocent. He treats her like a little girl and when she wants to wear a dress that is too revealing at a community costume party, he sees her innocence will be trampled on but he finally gives in. Will is 50 now and they have three little girls, which he adores. At the dance Maria has many dancing partners and drives to the dance with another married man. Will keeps trying to keep track of his wife but is not too successful, finally he gives up and goes home. Maria arrives home looking in a bit of disarray. She has been unhappy, she had not liked the way the men were behaving, she had thoughts of men behaving differently in her dreams. It seems she has not been unfaithful except maybe in thought. When Will sees her he tells her he forgives her and this upsets her, she sleeps alone. The next day Maria does not want to go to a party but wants Will to enjoy himself and tell her what was said about last night. Will reluctantly goes and starts to hear gossip that might not have to do with his wife but he thinks everything has to do with her. Slippers and a woman's garter belt are found in the parking lot, Will starts to think of his wife's opportunities for having an affair and it boils up inside himself. He returns home and asks his wife if she had lost these items. He goes into her room and searches for slippers, his wife is amazed and he again sleeps alone. He finally thinks of the man who has been around his wife many times and when he waits for his train he sees Henry. After he hits this supposed lover, Will feels better like he can move forward. He will go home and be happy with his family. But will this start happening again because the age difference will bring out jealousies. I hope that Maria will be happy in her family life. I hope he lives a long time because Maria, being treated like a child will have a hard time if he dies. It seems their children might fair better in his attention in helping educate them.
"But Maria was cold and tired and hungry. They had not gone to bed until two, and it had been an effort for her to keep her eyes open while they walked in the woods. When they got home, she would have to fix the supper. Cold cuts or lamb chops, she wondered while she watched Will enclose their initials in the outline of a heart and pierce it with an arrow. “Oh, you’re so lovely!” she heard him murmur when he had finished. “You’re so young and beautiful!” He groaned; he took her in his arms and kissed her wildly. She went on worrying about the supper."
"Her sobbing got louder. He got up and went to the dressing table and put his arms around her. “I told you what would happen if you wore that costume, didn’t I? But it doesn’t matter any more. I’ll never ask you anything about it. I’ll forget the whole thing. But come to bed now and get some sleep.”
"It had always seemed generous of her not to insist on his going with her to meetings of the Civic Improvement Association, but how did he know whether she had gone off to discuss the fluorination of water or to meet a lover?"
"Will was determined to be cheerful this afternoon, but the figures of his children, walking ahead, saddened him, for they seemed like live symbols of his trouble. He had not actually thought of leaving Maria—he had not let the idea form—but he seemed to breathe the atmosphere of separation. When he passed the tree where he had carved their initials, he thought of the stupendous wickedness of the world."
"As you may or may not know, I’m in charge of the adult-education program at the high school this year. We’ve had a disappointing attendance, and we have a speaker coming on Thursday for whom I’m anxious to rustle up a sizable audience. Her name is Mary Bickwald, and she’s going to speak on marriage problems—extramarital affairs, that sort of thing. If you and Maria are free on Thursday, I think you’ll find it worth your time.” The Chesneys went on into the living room, and Will continued toward the bar."
"She was gone. Maria, crying, looked at him so wantonly that he nearly choked. Then she climbed the stairs in her gray silk dress and shut the door to their room. He followed her and found her lying on their bed in the dark. “Who was it, Mummy?” he asked. “Just tell me who it was and I’ll forget about it.” “It wasn’t anybody,” she said. “There wasn’t anybody.”
"It was Henry who had been with her on the train when she returned that rainy night at two. It was Henry who had whistled when she did her dance at the Women’s Club. It was Henry’s head and shoulders he had seen on Madison Avenue when he recognized Maria ahead of him. And now he remembered poor Helen Bulstrode’s haggard face at the Townsends’ party—the face of a woman who was married to a libertine."
"The amazing thing was how well Will felt when he boarded the train. Now his fruitful life with Maria would be resumed. They would walk on Sunday afternoons again, and play word games by the open fire again, and weed the roses again, and love one another under the sounds of the rain again, and hear the singing of the crows; and he would buy her a present that afternoon as a signal of love and forgiveness. He would buy her pearls or gold or sapphires—something expensive; emeralds maybe; something no young man could afford."
May 31, 2025
Great story about how suspicion and jealousy can erode a marriage, or perhaps any relationship. I think, perhaps, Cheever is at his best when he is just standing outside something that appears perfect and then showing how easily it can unravel.
(#31 - The Stories of John Cheever)
(#31 - The Stories of John Cheever)
June 8, 2020
夜很黑，他站在自家門口的臺階上，有一種天搖地動的感覺，這世界改變得超乎想像的快－－－死又不斷地再生－－－他想著自己人生中經歷過的林林總總，哪有什麼道理可說，不過就像一個裸泳的人罷了。
January 28, 2024
never do anything.
August 26, 2021
誰不在失落疏離，誰不是不由自主。成功人生的外表下，扭曲的人性；和諧的家庭裡，缺乏關愛包容；美滿的婚姻中，其實各懷鬼胎。
------------------
她太過敏感，也因為如此，十分孤單。〈五點四十八分〉(33)
人在一個地方卻想著另外一個地方，這不是坐船那麼簡單。你根本不是渴望去另外一個國家，你根本只是渴望著你沒有的，或者是你沒辦法找到的一樣東西。〈美麗的語言〉(138)
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她太過敏感，也因為如此，十分孤單。〈五點四十八分〉(33)
人在一個地方卻想著另外一個地方，這不是坐船那麼簡單。你根本不是渴望去另外一個國家，你根本只是渴望著你沒有的，或者是你沒辦法找到的一樣東西。〈美麗的語言〉(138)
November 1, 2025
All of Will's paranoia culminates in him punching one of his male neighbors. There is no concrete evidence that he was Maria's lover — or that Maria had a lover. After punching him, Will snaps out of his angry toddler persona and thinks everything can now go back to how things were.
The abrupt ending is in keeping with many of the other Cheever stories I've read. It's open ended leaving the reader to decide if Will and Maria will go back to their happy marriage or not.
https://pussreboots.com/blog/2025/com...
Orphan Home Cornfield FF66FF
The abrupt ending is in keeping with many of the other Cheever stories I've read. It's open ended leaving the reader to decide if Will and Maria will go back to their happy marriage or not.
https://pussreboots.com/blog/2025/com...
Orphan Home Cornfield FF66FF
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